Zune vs. iPod specification smackdown — The new Zunes are official so let's get to it: a spec-by-spec scrap between Redmond's new Zunes and Cupertino's formidable iPod foe. Unfortunately, Microsoft failed to mention the all important battery performance of their new gear in addition to a few other minor details.

'Zune' Means Always Having to Say You're Sorry — No wonder expectations for Microsoft's Zune run so low-the company encourages them. Touting the newest iteration of Microsoft's digital music player in an interview yesterday with the New York Times, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates …

TechCrunch to Sell to CNET for $100+ Million? — Analyst Doug McIntyre at 24/7 Wall St doesn't have specific thoughts on the valuation, but he makes a persuasive case about why TechCrunch and other big blogs will eventually be bought for big numbers by big media.

Wow. We're worth $100 million! — Not a day after I trash Henry Blodget for touting Google stock at $2,000 a share he write a post titled "TechCrunch to Sell to CNET for $100+ Million?" — So first of all I owe Blodget a big apology. The guy is bright, insightful and dead on with his valuation predictions.

Amazon's Dynamo — In two weeks we'll present a paper on the Dynamo technology at SOSP, the prestigious biannual Operating Systems conference. Dynamo is internal technology developed at Amazon to address the need for an incrementally scalable, highly-available key-value storage system.

Microsoft posts more Vista pre-SP1 'wonder patches' — Whilst Service Pack 1 is still expected to be the major update to Windows Vista fixing the widespread bugs and issues, at the same time Microsoft is not holding back on these reliability updates I'd like to call 'wonder patches' which seems …

Verizon unveils iPhone rival — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless unveiled three new cell phones on Wednesday for the holiday season, including a high-end handset named Voyager that will compete with Apple Inc's iPhone. — The Voyager, made by LG Electronics, trumps the iPhone by offering faster wireless Web access.

Fake Jobs plans real publicity tour — SAN FRANCISCO — The "Fake Steve Jobs" blogger who jealously guarded his anonymity for nearly a year will soon embark on a publicity tour to tout his forthcoming book. — Forbes magazine editor Dan Lyons had intended to publish "oPtion$: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs" under a pseudonym.

Verizon's LG Voyager heads up newly official fall lineup — Verizon isn't kidding around this fall, with four new fashionable phones, a couple of which might divert a few iPhone dollars from archrival AT&T. It's those exact four that Engadget Mobile got the scoop on last weekend, the Juke, Pearl, Venus and Voyager.

NBC chief urges all-hands assault on piracy — WASHINGTON—Copyright holders are "losing the battle" against piracy, at the expense of economic security and public health, and will never prevail unless a wide swath of governments and industries gets proactive, NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker said Wednesday.